


Showtime

by Oneinamaximillion



Series: Iterum [6]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Memory Alteration, a little loopy au, storytime!, y/n being y/n
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 10:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25469440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oneinamaximillion/pseuds/Oneinamaximillion
Summary: A quick practice run to make sure the whole system still works.
Series: Iterum [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783990
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	Showtime

**Author's Note:**

> this was in my drafts for a while because I forgot it was done. so. here you go!

You give your characters several months to settle in before pulling Dark and Wil away for work. Mark, having been kept separate from the others who might harm him, is much easier to retrieve from the little series of van adventures you’ve set up for him. But Dark and Wil have the potential to be troublesome, so you take some extra time to comb through their minds and make sure that they’ll play their roles.You make sure Dark doesn’t remember anything outside the canon timeline, and are about to do the same to Wil before you realize that his grasp on reality is fragile enough to work in your favor.

The scene will be a simple one. Short and sweet, in order to gauge your readiness to return to your stories. Mark and Dark will have a quick fight. Mark will seem to gain the upper hand, when Dark will reveal that he has captured you. Threats will be exchanged, and just when it seems Dark is about to steal you away, Wil will show up out of nowhere and cause a disturbance. This distraction will allow Mark to ‘rescue’ you, and your hero will triumph once again.

There is, of course, more to the scope of the story than what you will eventually witness. You’ve got to set up the greater implications that give the story context, and allow both Mark and Dark time to plan and practice their respective monologues. You usually run through the scene a couple times until you like it. Yes, the whole interaction is scripted. Yes, you could, in theory, take over your characters completely and ensure the scene goes exactly how you want it every time. But when they are purely under your control they lose all personality and become boring, so it’s better to waste time getting it right through this method.

It’s fun!

But it’s an exhausting kind of fun, when you think about it. The energy necessary to do everything...you always feel sleepy afterwards. Which is good, sometimes. You like the pseudo-sleep you slip into when tired. But sometimes you want to do other things. You hope that watching what the others get up to in the pocket dimension will be fun, but maybe you need a hobby even more relaxing than that. Something to think about later.

You stand enclosed by a cage of some sort in the void. Mark and Dark talk and argue and fight in front of you. They come up with the most clever speeches, cliched as they can get.

“Hey, you!” You hear Wil half whisper. You turn to face him, and there he is in the cage with you, grinning. “This is kinda boring. Wanna go get ice cream?” You grin and nod. He swings the door to the cage open and walks out, with you following. Suddenly, a gunshot echoes through the empty space. Wil flinches back in surprise, while you look over to see that Mark has gotten a hold of the weapon he and Dark had been grappling over (Why is it always a gun?). Mark makes a triumphant noise and yells at you to run, breaking free of Dark to follow you. The two of you flee until the environment around you slowly changes from “big, empty void” to “big, empty warehouse”. You slow your pace, and Mark does the same. A wide grin breaks out across your face. You lace your fingers with Mark’s as he says something intended to reassure you.

It worked perfectly! Oh, it’s been a while since you had a rush like this.

You wave your hands and the scene dissolves, all your pawns returning to their proper places. You yawn dramatically and stretch your arms above your head, bones clicking in a way that isn’t wholly human. You pause when you feel a faint tugging sensation. Mildly curious, you follow it to a particular room.

Wil’s room.

You knock twice before entering to find Wil fidgeting with his gun, sitting on his bed. He smiles when he sees you.

“Ah, y/n, great show today! Since we didn’t get ice cream earlier, would you like to now?”

You stare at him, tapping a finger absentmindedly to your lips. Should you let him remember what had just transpired?

With two quick strides you reached his bed and cradled his head in your hands. You peered into his mad eyes and slipped past them, into his mind. The scent of sugar filled your nose; your vision swam with pink and yellow. You reached out and plucked a memory from the air, turning it over in your hands to examine it. It was from earlier. With a twist of your wrist you tore it.

The world trembled around you. You blinked in surprise and pulled back to examine Wil on the corporeal plane. He was staring blankly ahead, but tears dripped down his face. You winced.

“Wil?” you asked cautiously. No response. You tried again. “Colonel?” This made him turn slowly to look at you. You sighed in frustration. “You’re so damn delicate like this, my friend. Alright, give me a second, I’ll fix it.”

You slipped back into his head and rummaged about, picking up the memories you were looking for and holding them in your arms like a stack of blankets. With quick, efficient movements, you hid them. Tucking them under stronger memories, slipping them into remote corners of Wil’s mind, squishing them so small they would be almost impossible to trip over. You dusted your hands off with satisfaction. “There!” you said cheerfully. “Good as new.”

You returned to the real world humming your leitmotif softly. Wil looked better, although still somewhat blank. You patted his shoulder.

“You should probably get some rest, Wilford. I’ll see you later.”

You left in his room and returned to the void. It was a tricky problem to solve, since seemingly any memory could be the catalyst for a mental breakdown. Maybe you could construct a labyrinth in his head, to keep him away from things you didn’t want him to know? Of course, in theory the easiest way to prevent this from becoming a problem would be to remove him entirely. But you were much too fond of Wil to consider the thought for more than a second. No, it would take some work on your part, but you were positive you could maintain the structural integrity of both your stories and Wil’s mind.

You started humming a different song and returned to the metaphorical drawing board. Now that you knew you could manage, it was time to really get back into the creation of stories.

**Author's Note:**

> The series does have an ending planned out at this point, although I'm not sure how long it'll take to get there. Also, I'm starting college in the fall, so head's up my updates might get even more sporadic. I'm gonna try and get more consistent about posting, but no promises.


End file.
